Patrick Arlis retires, catcher Charlie Neil added

Patrick Arlis started behind the plate on July 28 knowing it would be his last professional baseball game at age 32, in his 12th professional season. He has retired to take an elementary school phys-ed teaching job in his native Illinois. While Arlis had been planning to play the whole season in York, the job opportunity came up suddenly, which caused Arlis to leave the team briefly in the first half to fly back to Illinois and interview for the position. With the school year there starting in about three weeks, unfortunately finishing the season in York was not an option in order for Arlis to move on to the next chapter in his life. He’s a graduate of the University of Illinois and has a master’s degree in elementary education.

His career was truly remarkable in the sense he was a walk-on at Illinois, and ended up having just one semester paid for on scholarship. Despite those odds, he was drated in the 11th round in 2002 by the Marlins, incredibly high for a former college walk-on. Arlis made his professional debut with the Jamestown Jammers of the New York-Penn League in ’02. In his career, he would ascend as high as Triple-A with both the Marlins and Brewers organizations.

Anticipating the departure of Arlis, the Revolution moved quickly to sign a new backup catcher, second-year pro Charlie Neil. Neil had been playing earlier this year with the Grand Prairie Air Hogs of the American Association. He was drafted by the Tigers in the 37th round last year, and spent the summer with their New York-Penn League affiliate (Connecticut). Neil didn’t have to travel far to make his professional debut, as he was selected after spending four years as the primary backstop at Yale.